Arrangement for grouping bags inside a container



Feb. 4, 1969 M. J. HELIOT 3,425,184

I ARRANGEMENT FOR GROUPING BAGS INSIDE A CONTAINER Filed April 8, 1966 Sheet I of e Feb. 4, 1969 M. J. HELIOT 3,

ARRANGEMENT FOR GROUPING BAGS INSIDE A CONTAINER Filed April 8. 1966 sheet 2 of e Mum 1mm K @MM AQYM Feb; 4, 1969 M. J. HELIOT 3,425,184

ARRANGEMENT FOR GROUPING BAGS INSIDE A CONTAINER Filed April 8. 1966 Sheet 3 of e Feb. 4, 1969 M. J. HELIOT 3,

ARRANGEMENT FOR GROUPING mes msmm A coummaa Filed April 8, 1966 Shet 4- Feb. 4, 1969 M. J. HELIOT 3,425,184 ARRANGEMENT FOR GROUPING BAGS INSIDE A CONTAINER Filed April 8, 1966 Sheet 5 of e Feb. 4, 1969 M, Hem-r 3,425,104'

ARRANGEMENT FOR GROUPING BAGS INSIDE CONTAINER Filed April a, 1966 Sheet- 6 01'6 iil c.

United States Patent U.S. CI. 53-78 Int. Cl. B65b 57/18, 57/20, /12

14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Means for automatically grouping a predetermined number of bags inside a container. A conveyor band feeds the bags to a trough which drops them by gravity into the container. A second conveyor band shifts the containers into registry with the lower end of the trough and the bags are delivered into the rear terminal spaces of successive containers. Means urge the bags forwardly in each container each time a bag is dropped therein. Means are also provided for holding the bags in the container. A switch is provided upon the trough registering the passage of successive bags and a counting mechanism is controlled by the pulses produced by the passage of successive bags over the switch which controls the shifting of the containers and the means for urging the bags forwardly in each container.

My invention has for its object an arrangement for grouping bags inside a container.

It is a known fact that, when articles have been packed inside bags, said bags are conventionally grouped inside a container, for instance in groups of predetermined categories, say in the case of stocking packaging machines, in groups of stockings of the same size and/or of the same color.

It is also a known fact that containers have already been used which are constituted by vats having a rectangular base and provided either with two inner longitudinal walls sloping with reference to the bottom of the vat, such two walls being perpendicular to each other.

My invention has primarily for its object an arrangement which ensures automatically the direct grouping, in predetermined amounts, of bags inside a container provided with longitudinal vertical walls.

A further object of my invention consists in providing an arrangement which ensures automatically the direct grouping in predetermined numbers of bags inside a container provided with vertical longitudianl walls.

A still further object of my invention consists in the provision of an arrangement which allows an automatic and direct grouping of bags, in groups of the same category inside a container provided with longitudianl walls perpendicular to each other.

The above objects and auxiliary objects will appear clearly from the reading of the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate diagrammatically and merely by way of example, two preferred embodiments of an arrangement according to my invention. In said drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an arrangement feeding through gravity bags into containers of a parallelopipedic shape.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic cross-section of the container and of the gravity-controlled feeding means illustrated in FIG. 1 and associated with a miniature switch ensuring a counting of the number of the bags.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side view of the means urging the bags forwardly, associated with the container illus- 3,425,184 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 trated in FIG. 2 and adapted to push the bags into said container one by one beyond a boss adapted to transiently hold the bags against progression.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the pusher member carrying four pins and forming part of the bag-urging means illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a general diagrammatic perspective view of an arrangement for grouping the bags inside containers of a rectangular cross-section.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an arrangement feeding bags under the action of gravity into containers showing a trapezoidal cross-section of a special type, which allows grouping the bags distributed into different categories.

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view through a container of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic side view of an arrangement feeding bags under the action of gravity and grouping them inside containers showing a trapezoidal cross-section of a special type.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the pusher member forming part of the means feeding the bags into the container illustrated in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a front view of said pusher member including three projections as illustrated sideways in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the release of the rocking plate compressing and holding the bags in position, which plate is used with a container of a trapezoidal cross-section.

FIG. 12 is a general perspective view of an arrangement feeding containers of a trapezoidal cross-section.

FIG. 13 is a wiring diagram illustrating the control means provided for the pivoting swing-bar illustrated in FIG. 6 and adapted to group in different categories the bags to be fed into containers of a trapezoidal crosssection.

Turning to the first embodiment of my invention ap plied to the grouping of bags 1 into containers 2 showing a rectangular cross-section (FIGS. 1 to 5 The bags are fed by an endless conveyor band 3 which drops them one by one into a trough 4 out of which they slide over an incurved metal sheet 5 into the container 2 underneath a further in curved metal sheet 6 provided with a miniature switch 7 producing each time a bag passes under it a pulse which is fed to a counting mechanism which is not illustrated and which may be adjusted previously so as to indicate a predetermined number of bags. The containers 2 are each provided with four perforations 8 which allow introducing into the container, under the action of the jack 9 (FIGS. 2, 3 and 4), the pins or rods 11 carried by a pusher member 10 controlled directly by the pulses produced by the miniature switch each time a bag passes in registry therewith. The metal sheet 6 carrying the miniature switch 7 is provided at its lower end with a retaining nose 12 (FIG. 2) cooperating with a boss 13 defining therewith inside the container 2 between it and the rear wall of the latter a space 14 into which the bags are fed. Under the action of the pusher member 10, the pins or rods 11 on which reciprocate in and out of the perforations 8 in the container, each bag progresses inside the container over the transverse corrugations 15 formed on the bottom of said container. The bags are held vertically in position inside the container by a plate 16 (FIG. 5) carried by a rod 17 suspended to a roller 18 running over a sloping rail 19; the latter is raised when urged pivotally upwards by a jack 20 with a view to raising the plate 16 out of a container 2 which is full and is about to be removed in the direction of the arrow by the endless conveyor chain 21 provided with driving projections 22 adapted to shift the containers 2 stepwise in the direction of said arrow. The miniature switch 7 carried by the guiding plate 6 and which is actuated each time a bag drops under the action of gravity into the space 14 formed in the container produces then a pulse. Said pulse is fed on the one hand into the counting mechanism which is not illustrated and which is adjusted previously so as to define the desired number of bags to be introduced into the container and on the other hand into an electrically controlled valve which is not illustrated and which controls the admission of fluid into the jack 9 actuating the pusher number 10. Furthermore when the desired number of bags has been introduced into the container, the totalizer of the counting mechanism sends a pulse into a further electrically controlled valve; the latter operates the jack 20 raising the rail 19 over which the roller carrying the plate 16 through the agency of the rod 17 is adapted to run. The movement of said rail controls in its turn the progression of the filled container beyond its operative position and furthermore the shifting of the next container into said operative position. This setting of the next container into the said operative filling position produces automatically a sinking of the rail 19 which had been precedingly raised by the jack 20.

In the second embodiment of an arrangement according to my invention, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 13, there is obtained in addition to the totalizing of the number of bags, a grouping of the latter in different categories so that the bags may selectively be arranged in groups of a predetermined number of bags over the corresponding sloping transverse surfaces 23 and 24 of special containers of a trapezoidal cross-section.

In said embodiment, the bags dropping under the action of gravity out of the trough 4 between the incurved metal sheets and 6 are shifted selectively in each of two directions as well known in the art by a rod projecting into the path of said bags.

In a preferred embodiment of said arrangement, the shifting of the bags in either direction so as to be grouped selectively on the two orthogonal transverse surfaces of a container of a trapezoidal cross-section is obtained by means of an electromagnetically controlled swing-bar governed by a switch system actuated directly by a previously adjusted group-counting mechanism.

As illustrated in FIG. 13 of the accompanying drawings, the previously adjusted group-counting mechanism 25 closes the switch 26 when the adjusted number of bags of one group has been reached; said switch 26 closes then the circuit feeding a suction coil 27 of which the core subjected to the antagonistic tractional action of a spring 28 shifts translationally a catch 29 engaging a ratchet wheel 30. The latter is coaxially rigid with the movable contact-piece 31 of a bipolar switch adapted tr close the circuit feeding a further section coil 32 of which the core is connected with one of the arms 33 of a rocking swing-bar. The other arm 34 of said swing-bar is subjected to the tractional action of a spring 35, the arms of said swing-bar engaging selectively a slot 36 formed in a trapezoidal extension of the rear surface of the container 37 of a special type illustrated. In said second embodiment of the arrangement and by reason of the fact that the trapezoidal cross-section of the containers 37 furthers such an operation, the plate 16 urging the bags 1 against the boss 13 and the nose 12 on the bag retaining metal sheet 6 is no longer suspended to a rail adapted to be raised by a jack but merely to a stationary rail 38 rigid with the frame of the machine. Said plate is in this case, adapted to rock after the manner of a pendulum in a plane extending transversely of the container as illustrated in FIG. 11. Said figure shows that when the filled container is being removed, the plate 16 slides over one of the sloping surfaces 23 of the container, illustrated without any bags therein for sake of clarity, after which said released plate engages the inside of the next container 37 which is now brought into the filling station. As illustrated, the progression of the container 37 is ensured by projections 22 secured at predetermined intervals on the endless chain 21 as in the case of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1.

The operation of the first embodiment described is as follows: Upon starting of the conveyor band 3 feeding the bags 1, the latter are caused to drop at predetermined time intervals into the trough 4 out of which they slide through gravity into the space 14 provided for the loading of the container 2, while said bags actuate as they pass the contact blade of the miniature switch 7. This produces a pulse which causes the totalizing counting mechanism, which is not illustrated, to progress by one unit. Said totalizer is adjusted so as to operate for instance when a predetermined total number of bags which may be carried by a container, is reached.

The miniature switch 7 feeds simultaneously another pulse into the electrically controlled valve controlling the jack 9. This results in the pusher member 10 carried by the rod of the jack entering through its projecting pins 11 into corresponding holes formed in the rear surface of the container so as to urge the bag carried in the space 14 beyond the plane formed by the boss 13 formed at the beginning of the cornugations 15 of the container 2 and by the nose 12 of the incurved guiding metal sheet 6. The bag is held in position by the plate 16 which, by reason of the slope assumed by the rail 19, progresses as a consequence of the roller 18 running downwardly until it abuts against said bag. This operation is repeated exactly in the same manner until the last bag has entered inside the container and the pulse supplied by said bag to the miniature switch 7 releases then through the suitably adjusted totalizer an auxiliary pulse opening the electromagnetically controlled valve. The latter allows the fluid to enter the jack 20 which raises then the rail 19 and consequently releases the plate 16 which is lifted out of the filled container 2. At this moment, the conveyor chain 21 moves stepwise towards the right hand side, which ensures the removal of the filled container and the shifting of the next container into the operative filling position formerly occupied by the latter. This position of the next container at the filling station leads to an emptying of the jack 20 which causes the rail 19 to return into its original sloping position; this in its turn allows the plate 16 to enter again its initial position in registry with the plane formed by the retaining nose 12 provided on the deflecting metal sheet 6 and by the boss 13 provided at the end of the corrugated bottom of the container, which plane defines the space 14 formed in the container to receive the bags fed into it.

As to the operation of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 11, it differs from that which has just been disclosed merely through the fact that it ensures as a further step the alternating grouping of predetermined numbers of bags on the sidewalls 23 and 24 of the special container referred to. Said alternating grouping of predetermined amounts of bags is ensured by adjusting previously the number of bags of one group on a group counting mechanism which produces as soon as said number of bags has been reached, a reversal of the position of the swing-bar adapted to shift the bag selectively in either direction, according to its position. The group-counting mechanism 25 closes then the switch 26, so as to energize the circuit passing through the feed lines L and L and feeding the coil 27 the core of which is subjected to the action of the return spring 28. This energization causes the core of said coil to urge the catch 29 forwardly against the tractional effort exerted by the spring 28, so that said catch makes the ratchet wheel 30 revolve by one quarter of a revolution. Said ratchet wheel 30 is rigid with the contact piece 31 so that the latter rocks through and enters the position illustrated in interrupted lines in FIG. 13. Consequently, the circuit feeding the coil 32 is broken and, under the action of the spring 35 acting on the arm 34 of the swing-bar, the latter pivots so that its other arm 33 enters the slot 36 and reverses the direction along which the bags are shifted inside the container.

In order to ensure a uniform settling of the bags without any jerks, the plate 16 is provided with a friction member cooperating with rail 38, such as a lining of the material sold under the registered trade name Ferodo, engaging frictionally the rail carrying the plate when the latter rocks rearwardly under the action of the thrust exerted by the bags which are shifted over the container bottom by the pressure exerted therein on the bags.

Obviously, my invention has been described and illustrated solely by way of an explanation without any limiting sense being attached to the disclosure and various detail modifications may be brought to the embodiments I described, without widening thereby the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims. Thus, for instance, the electromagnetically controlled swing-bar may be replaced by a pneumatic, hydraulic or the like arrangement playing the same part.

What I claim is:

1. An arrangement for automatically grouping a predetermined number of bags inside a container, comprising a conveyor band adapted to feed the bags, a trough adapted to receive the bags at the outlet end of said conveyor band and to allow them to drop along said trough under the action of gravity, a further conveyor band adapted to shift a series of containers, carried transversely thereon, stepwise into registry with the lower end of said trough, to allow the latter to deliver bags into the rear terminal spaces of the successive containers, means for forwardly urging the bags dropped into the terminal space of each container transversely over the bottom of said container, each time at least one bag has dropped into the container, means for settling and holding inside the container the bags dropped into the container, a miniature switch controlled by the passage of the successive bags over the trough and a counting mechanism controlled by the pulses produced by the passage of the successive bags over said switch controlling the operation of said further conveyor band and said means for forwardly urging said bags in each container.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the counting mechnism includes means totalizing the number of bags entering any of the successive containers.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially at 45 with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlling the dropping of the bags of different categories out of the trough, in succession on each sloping wall of the container.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially at 45 with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlling the dropping of the bags of different categories out of the trough in succession on each sloping wall of the container, and further means totalizing the number of bags entering any of the successive containers.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means settling and holding the bags include a movable plate adapted to engage the foremost bag in the container, a rod pivotally carrying said plate and extending upwardly of the latter, a roller revolvably carried by the upper end of said rod, a rail extending over the longitudinal axis of the container, sloping downwardly in a direction facing the trough, adapted to rock in a vertical plane round one end and over which the roller is adapted to run downwardly, and a jack adapted to urge said rail vertically to raise the plate out of the container when the latter is filled with a predetermined number of bags.

6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially-.at 45 with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlling the dropping of the bags of different categories out of the trough in succession on each sloping wall of the container, a plate forming part of the means settling and holding the bags, engaging the foremost bag in the container and adapted to rock transversely of the container, and means whereby said plate is urged upwardly along one of the sloping walls of the container when the latter is full and is shifted along by the further conveyor band.

7. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein each container is providedwith a number of perforations and the means urging the bags forwardly include a support and a plurality of pins carried thereby and adapted to engage the perforations in the container, a jack controlling said support to urge its pins forwardly through the perforations in the containers and thereby urge the bags dropped into the container forwardly inside the latter and means wherethrough the miniature switch controls the operation of the jack each time a bag drops into the container.

8. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, comprising a plate forming a lower extension of the trough, carrying the miniature switch and including at its lower end a retaining nose, located inside the container and facing forwardly and a boss formed at the bottom of the container in vertical registry with the nose to define therewith and with the rear wall of the container a terminal space into which the bags drop under the action of gravity out of the trough.

9. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein each container is provided with a number of perforations and the means urging the bags forwardly include a support and a plurality of pins carried thereby and adapted to engage the perforations in the container, a jack controlling said support to urge its pins forwardly through the perforations in the container and thereby urge the bags dropped into the container forwardly inside the latter, means whereby the closing of the miniature switch at each passage of a bag produces a pulse feeding the counting mechanism to make the latter show, when the number of bags fed into a container has reached the desired number, an electrically controlled valve controlling the admission of fluid into the jack and means whereby the miniature switch produces each time it is closed by the passage of a bag of pulse adapted to open said valve to make the jack act on said movable plate.

10. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means settling and holding the bags include a movable plate adapted to engage the foremost bag in the container, a rod pivotally carrying said plate and extending upwardly of the latter, a roller revolvably carried by the upper end of said rod, a rail extending over the longitudinal axis of the container and sloping downwardly in a direction facing the trough and over which the roller is adapted to run downwardly, a jack adapted to urge said rail upwardly to raise the plate out of the container when the latter is full, means whereby the counting mechanism produces a pulse each time a predetermined number of bags has entered the container, an electrically controlled valve controlling the admission of fluid into said rail-raising jack and energized by said pulses produced by the counting mechanism.

11. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially at 45 with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlled by the counting mechanism and totalizing the number of bags entering the successive containers, a swing-bar adapted to selectively occupy two angular positions for which it shifts the bags passing out of the trough onto the corresponding oblique walls of the container, an electric system controlling the angular position of the swing-bar, and means controlled by the totalizing means defining the number of bags in a predetermined group which are to drop onto one oblique wall and adapted to produce in said electric system a pulse each time said predetermined number has beenv reached and means whereby said circuit system shifts the swing-bar out of one position into the other upon energization by said pulse.

12. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially at 45 with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlled by the counting mechanism and totalizing the number of bags entering the successive containers, a swing-bar adapted to selectively occupy two angular positions for which it shifts the bags passing out of the trough onto the corresponding oblique walls of the container, an electric system controlling the angular position of the swing-bar, means controlled by the totalizing means and defining the number of bags in a predetermined group which are to drop onto one oblique wall, a suction coil including a core, a spring urging said core in a predetermined direction, a circuit adapted to feed said coil, means whereby the totalizercontrolled means close said circuit when the predetermined number of bags in the group is reached, a catch controlled by the coil core when energized, a ratchet wheel controlled by the catch, a switch controlled by the ratchet wheel, a further suction coil including a core peratively connected with one of the arms of the swing-bar, a circuit feeding last-mentioned coil and controlled by last-mentioned switch, a further spring acting on the other arm of said swing-bar, the cooperation of said further spring and further suction coil producing the change of position of the swing-bar upon operation of the totalizer-controlled means,

13. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially at 45 with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlled by the counting mechanism and totalizing the number of bags entering the successive containers, a transversely slotted trapezoidal extension of the container, a swing-bar adapted to selectively occupy two angular positions defined by the selective engagement of the swingbar arms in the slot, for which positions it shifts the bags passing out of the trough onto the corresponding oblique walls of the container, an electric system controlling the angular position of the swing-bar, means controlled by the totalizing means and defining the number of bags in a predetermined group which are to drop onto one oblique wall and adapted to produce in said electric system a pulse each time said predetermined number has been reached, and means whereby said circuit system shifts the swing-bar out of one position into the other upon energization by said pulse.

14. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container includes two sloping walls parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container and extending substantially at with reference to a vertical plane, said arrangement comprising means controlling the dropping of the bags of different categories out of the trough in succession on each sloping wall of the container, a plate forming part of the means settling and holding the bags, engaging the foremost bag in the container and adapted to rock transversely of the container, a support frictionally engaging said plate and means whereby said plate is urged over said support to move upwardly along one of the sloping walls of the container when the latter is full and is shifted along by the further conveyor band.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,767,534 10/1956 Nydegger et a1 53-62 3,289,230 12/1966 Detert 53-244 TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner.

E. F. DESMOND, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 53-247, 251 

